Updated Tigers Starters WATCH Scores

Last month, I invented WATCH, New English D’s meaningless rankings of which starters on the team are most fun to watch. Below is the original description, followed by updated rankings:

Among the things we love at New English D are the Detroit Tigers, starting pitching, math, and nonsensical rankings. This post will combine all three in glorious fashion. I’ve often thought about doing something like this because I’ve always had my own rankings of which starters I enjoyed watching the most. If you’re familiar with this site, I’m not just a fan of great pitching, I’m a fan of certain kinds of pitching. The rankings below reflect that. This is meant to be fun.

Among the factors considered here are how deep a pitcher pitches into games, strikeouts, walks, ground balls, first pitch strikes, and how quickly they work. Each number is compared to the team average (not league average) and added together with all six categories weighted equally. Hat tip to Carson Cistulli of Fangraphs for inspiring the idea with his NERD scores.

As August 15, the 2013 Tigers WATCH List looks like this:

5. Justin Verlander

4. Rick Porcello

3. Anibal Sanchez

2. Max Scherzer

1. Doug Fister

Enjoy the double-header and check back for two editions of How Was The Game?!